Revelation From Heaven and Its Continuance Necessary

Sometimes I am in the habit of taking a text, but at present there is
no passage of Scripture which presents itself to my mind; I therefore,
commence speaking and, through your faith and prayers before the Lord,
I trust that something may be given to me that will edify, and benefit
the congregation. The subjects pertaining to the kingdom of God are so
numerous that, sometimes the great difficulty in the mind of a servant
of God who attempts to address the people is to know the mind and will
of the Spirit in regard to what shall be said. If I know my
own heart, I have no desire to speak my own words or to impart unto
you my own natural wisdom; but it is the earnest desire of my heart
that I may impart instruction according to the mind and the will of
the living God. This I cannot do unless God shall grant unto me the
inspiration of his Spirit at the very moment, and this will depend in
a great measure upon the hearers as well as upon the speaker. If the
people have faith in God, and pray unto him, exercising that faith, he
may give them something that will be instructive to their minds; but
if they have not faith the Lord may not see proper thus to impart.

We are permitted, Latter-day Saints, to live in a very peculiar age of
the world. It is called by us, the dispensation of the fulness of
times. Many dispensations have been revealed to the inhabitants of the
earth in past ages, and God has given, from time to time, since the
creation, much instruction to the people. What I mean by a
dispensation, is power, authority and revelation given from Heaven to
direct and counsel men here on the earth. This has been given at
different ages of the world, and the instruction which God has given
has been in accordance with the circumstances of the people, the
revelations and instructions which he has given being different at one
period from those given at another. When I say different, do not
misunderstand me. Many of the revelations of God are unchangeable in
their nature, and are adapted to all dispensations; but many
commandments have been given that were adapted only to the
dispensations in which they were revealed. I will name some of these.

For instance, when some sixteen hundred or two thousand years had
passed away, from the creation, the world had become very much
corrupted in the sight of God, so much so that what little history we
have on the subject informs us that all flesh had corrupted its way
upon the face of the earth. God gave a new commandment in that period,
differing entirely from all former commandments. It was not adapted to
any dispensation that had preceded it, neither would it be suitable
for any future dispensation: it was intended for that particular
period only. The Lord commanded his servant Noah to build an ark,
according to certain rules and dimensions that he gave unto him, for,
said the Lord, “I intend to destroy all flesh with a flood, except
those who shall gather together into the ark which you shall build.”

This was a new commandment. If there had been any sectarian preachers
who then lived, and perhaps there were—for preachers who have not been
sent of God seem to have been numerous in all dispensations—they would
perhaps have reasoned with Noah in relation to this new revelation and
commandment, and said to him, “What is the use now, of getting new
revelation from God? You will not dispute, Noah, but what Enoch was
saved and translated to heaven. He had enough revelation to save him,
and cannot we be saved in the same manner that he was, without having
any new revelation communicated to us?” I mention this, because such
arguments are used at the present day in reference to the new
revelations which the Latter-day Saints carry forth to the world. The
people say, “You believe in the Book of Mormon as a new revelation,
and that God has given new commandments. Have we not enough? Were not
the people who lived in the days of Enoch, Abraham, Moses and the
Prophets, in the days of Jesus and the Apostles, saved? And if
they had enough to save them, if we follow the instructions which they
received, what is the use of obtaining another book, called the Book
of Mormon, or new commandments and revelations?” This has been brought
forth as an argument ever since my youth to my certain knowledge, in
all countries where I have traveled and attempted to communicate to
the world our ideas about new revelation. The same arguments might
have been used in the days of the flood—“Enough has been given; Enoch
has been saved and translated, and if we follow the revelations given
to him, why may we not be saved without having any thing new?” But
Noah would have answered, and very properly too, “God designs to
accomplish something now that he did not accomplish in the days of
Enoch, nor in the days of Abel and Seth, nor in the days of any of
those ancient worthies—he intends to bring destruction on all flesh
that will not repent, by overwhelming this world of ours in a flood of
water. He intends to pour out his indignation and just wrath upon
those who corrupt themselves in his sight; and he has provided a
particular way of escape therefrom, by which you may, if you will, be
saved from this judgment, and that way has to be made known by new
revelation.” We will pass on, however.

Soon after the days of Noah, we find that certain men lived upon the
earth, whose names are recorded in this sacred history (the Bible),
who were called to be the chosen servants of God, and whom the Lord
blessed in a peculiar manner. I refer now to the Patriarchs, and more
especially to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, three very worthy men, so
worthy that the Lord chose them as repre-sentatives of the faithful in
all future ages, and declared that all who should be saved in future
ages should became their seed, either springing directly from their
loins, or being adopted, through the Gospel, into the family of
Abraham, who was to be called the father of the faithful: that is the
father not only of the faithful who lived from his day until the
coming of Christ, but of all who should live after Christ who followed
in the footsteps of this ancient Patriarch and embraced the same
Gospel that he taught, and they should have a claim on the promises
that were made to him.

Now, did the Patriarch Abraham receive anything new from God, or was
there enough already given? Perhaps many may cry, “Enough to save
Noah, Enoch, Abel, and all persons who would walk before the Lord
according to ancient revelation, without anything new.” But there was
not enough adapted to the circumstances by which Abraham was
surrounded. Why? Because the Lord designed to call Abraham out from
his father's house, from his friends and country, and to lead him into
a strange land. Abraham might have searched all former records and
revelations, but here was a duty he never could have learned
therefrom—“Depart from thy father's house!” It could not be found
written in former revelations, hence the circumstances required new
revelation, and God gave it by commanding this great man—the father of
the faithful—to leave the land of Chaldea and to go forth into a
country where he never had been. Abraham was obedient, he went forth
and traveled to the country that we call Palestine—a small territory
east of the Mediterranean Sea. And having arrived in that land, he
might have searched all former revelations in vain to have
learned what his duty was then, for there were certain duties required
of him then in regard to which the revelation given to him in his
native land did not enlighten him. One of these duties was to go forth
upon a certain eminence or mountain in Canaan. He did as he was
taught. It was a peculiar commandment. I have never been commanded to
do so, neither has any other person in this congregation; neither was
any person who lived before Abraham but he, and he alone needed new
revelation to find out that he was to go to the top of a certain
mountain. When he got there another new revelation was given to him,
commanding him to look to the east then to the west; and then to cast
his eyes to the north, and to the south, and then, behold, a great
promise was made to him by new revelation, namely, “All the land which
thou seest shall be given to thee and thy seed after thee for an
everlasting possession.” No such promise could he have found in any
former revelation: this promise was adapted to that peculiar
individual, and to the circumstances in which he was placed.

We would imagine that Isaac, having his father's revelations right
before his eyes, and knowing all about them, would say in his heart,
“I need not trouble myself about inquiring from God and receiving
anything new from the heavens. My father was a good man; he was saved,
and I shall content myself by giving heed to the old revelations.” But
Isaac did not reason in this way; and the Lord had some new
revelations to communicate to the son of Abraham, and one of them was
to confirm the promise that had been made to his father. One might
naturally suppose that the revelation made to his father was broad
enough and covered the case without being confirmed, for it declared
that the land promised to Abraham should be given to him and to his
seed after him, and we might suppose that that included Isaac, and
that there was no need of a new revelation to him on the subject; but
if it did include him, Isaac was not fully satisfied, he would not
place his dependence on something that had been said to some other
man, but wanted to know for himself whether God intended him to
possess that land, and there was no way for him to obtain this
knowledge except by direct communication with the heavens. He obtained
it, God renewing the promise to him that he had made to his father
Abraham.

By and by comes along the grandson of Abraham—Jacob, who, not
satisfied with the promises made to his grandfather and his
father—Abraham and Isaac, and not considering himself safe to depend
on promises made to somebody else, came before the Lord and plead with
him, and the angels of God came and visited this lad, and he saw a
ladder reaching from the ground on which he slept to the very heavens,
upon which the angels were ascending and descending; and he, on that
occasion, obtained a confirmation of the promise made to his father
and grandfather.

It is unnecessary for me to trace the history of these patriarchs, or
to mention the various times when God thought fit to communicate a new
revelation unto them, according to the circumstances in which they
were placed. We might relate the revelations given to Jacob after he
went down into the country of Laban, where he married his four wives.
We might relate to you the various revelations God gave to him during
his sojourn in that land. We might
also relate to you the
revelations he received after he left that country with his four wives
and his children. When he came to the brook Jabbok, sending over all
his family before him, he stopped back, and the Lord condescended to
give him a new revelation. An angel came down, and Jacob and this
person laid hold of each other, the same as men do occasionally now,
to try each other's strength, in what is termed wrestling. These two
persons wrestled together all night long. The angel did not see proper
to take any advantage of Jacob by miracle, but he wrestled with him as
one man would another; and it seems that neither of them overcame the
other. The angel did not succeed in throwing Jacob to the ground,
neither did Jacob succeed in throwing the angel to the ground; but
after contending together all night, the angel at last put forth his
finger and touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and lamed him a little,
and by this means was enabled to overcome him. After being thus lamed,
Jacob found that he had been wrestling with an angel of God, and, said
he, “I will not let thee go unless thou bless me;” and God,
through the mouth of that angel, gave to him the same great and
glorious promises than he had given to his father, and also blessed
him as a prince, because he had power to wrestle with an angel all
night and prevailed with him.

Some suppose that this was the first conversion of Jacob; but, be this
as it may, Jacob, prior to this time, had many great revelations from
God. After wrestling in this manner on one side of the brook Jabbok,
he started the next day to overtake his family, and he placed his four
wives and their children in a certain order, preparatory to meeting
his brother Esau. By and by Esau comes along with quite an army of
men, and he meets the forward company, consisting of Bilhah and Zilpah
and their children—two of Jacob's wives and their polygamous
offspring. He continues on until he meets Jacob's third wife, and
finally he comes to the fourth and her children, with whom Jacob was,
and turning to Jacob he says, “Who are all these women and children?”
Jacob answered, “These are they whom God hath given thy servant.”
What! God give to Jacob more than one wife, and a number of polygamous
children! Is that so? Well, Jacob says so, and we are informed that he
was then converted, that this meeting between Jacob and Esau took
place, and this declaration of Jacob was made after his conversion at
the brook Jabbok. Now, would you suppose that a converted man would
make such a declaration, about his wives and children as Jacob made to
Esau, if it had not been true? If a man now-a-days declares that God
has given him more wives than one, and a host of polygamous children,
he is accused of blasphemy, yet Jacob, after wrestling with an angel,
declared that such was the case with him: he knew it was so and he
acknowledged the hand of God. After he reached the land of Canaan we
find that God continued to give to this man revelation after
revelation, suited to the circumstances; and thus we may trace the
history of the dispensations of God to man.

I will now touch, in short, upon the history of Moses, who lived
several hundred years after Jacob—at a period when circumstances
called for commandments and revelations different to any that had ever
been given before. After having slain the Egyptian, Moses fled from
the house of Pharaoh, and went down into the land of Midian, and dwelt
there forty years. At a certain time, when he
was herding the
flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro, he saw a bush burning with a very
brilliant flame. This excited his curiosity, and he drew near, and saw
the bush apparently burning, and yet not consumed. As he drew nearer
God spoke to him out of the burning bush, and told him to take the
shoes from his feet for the place on which he stood was holy ground.
He never could have found out by former revelation that the ground
whereon he stood was holy. This God, who appeared in the burning bush,
or the angel, as the case may be, had something for Moses to do that
he could not possibly learn from former revelation, and that something
was to arise and go down into Egypt and deliver God's people—the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—from the hands of their
enemies. Do you not see that it required new revelation to inform him
of this fact? He was obedient to the commandment, for taking Aaron
with him, he went down into Egypt and stood before the king, and then
commenced a series of new revelations that were wonderful and
marvelous in their nature. The revelations of today, however, would
not suit tomorrow, and those of tomorrow would not suit the next
day. Why? Because God had something new to perform every day, and that
which was given yesterday would not be adapted to the work God saw fit
to perform today or tomorrow, hence, as often as the day rolled
round new revelation had to be given to Moses to make known to him
what the Lord required at his hand, what his mission was, what he was
to do in the house of Pharaoh and before all the Egyptians. Having
accomplished these wonders, by new revelation, Moses and the whole
house of Israel, some twenty-five hundred thousand in number, left the
land of Egypt and came forth to the eastern border of the Red Sea.

If there had been sectarians in that large company, they would
doubtless have reasoned with Moses on this wise: “Moses, what an
abundance of revelation God has given in former times, and have we not
enough for our guidance now?” I say if there had been Baptists,
Methodists, Presbyterians, members of the Church of England, or of any
of the several hundred different sects into which Christendom is now
separated, this would have been their argument, for their argument now
is—“We have enough, and do not need any more.” But Moses and the
children of Israel were not influenced by such considerations, for
they were placed in circumstances that required something new. The Red
Sea was before them, and there were mountains on the south and on the
north, and on the west the Egyptians were pursuing them, and the
inquiry with them was, “What shall we do?” God gave them revelation. He
did not tell them to search previous revelations for that was all that
was necessary, but he gave them revelation telling them what to do,
and that revelation was, “Stand still, and see the salvation of God?”
If they had not got this new revelation they might have been so
confused that, instead of standing still, some would have run for one
mountain, and some for another, some this way and some that; but a new
revelation made them understand that their duty, instead of fleeing,
was to stand still and see the salvation that God would work out for
them. Moses was commanded to smite the waters of the Red Sea, and he
did so, and they were parted asunder by the power of the Almighty and,
as we are informed in another place, they stood up like
walls on either side of the path on which the children of Israel traveled
through the midst of the sea. We would naturally suppose that water
would not do this, but it was a miracle wrought by the power of the
Almighty. He placed the waters, like solid walls on each side of his
people, and they walked through dry shod, while the Egyptian army, in
trying to pursue them, were overthrown in the midst of the sea.

Then comes another new revelation—given by inspiration—to sing how the
Lord had overthrown the enemies of his people, how the Lord had
magnified his great power and preserved his people from the Egyptian
nation, and delivered them from bondage. The hosts of Israel traveled
along from the shores of the Red Sea until they came to the foot of
Mount Sinai, where, by new revelation, they camped; and at a certain
time, the Lord, by new revelation, called Moses up into the mount; and
when he got there the Lord saw fit to write a certain code of laws on
tables of stone, and, after keeping Moses in the mount forty days and
forty nights, he sent him down, and when he got down he found that the
children of Israel had corrupted themselves in the sight of the Most
High, for they had made unto themselves gods, certain golden calves,
and they were worshipping them. Aaron had caused the people to strip
themselves naked, and they were dancing around the calves. Moses was
very angry, not with that kind of anger which fills the bosoms of
foolish men and women; but that principle of justice which burns in
the bosom of the Almighty, burned in the bosom of Moses, and he threw
down the tables of the covenant which he had brought from Mount Sinai,
and they were smashed to pieces. He called for those on the Lord's
side to come out from the midst of that company and stand with him, at
the same time commanding them to gird on their swords and put to death
those who were not for the Lord. That was a new revelation, and a
curious one, was it not? After all this had taken place, the Lord
called Moses a second time up into the mount by new revelation, and
again gave him tables of stone and laws written thereon. He kept him
there the second time forty days and forty nights, without eating or
drinking anything. One would suppose that he could not have stood so
long a period of fasting—eighty days and eighty nights, forty each
time. When he had obtained the tables the second time he came down and
stood before the children of Israel, and his countenance shone with
such brightness that they were filled with fear, and fled from before
the presence of Moses. They could not endure the glory of his
countenance, and they besought Moses that the presence of the Lord
might not be made manifest in their midst. “Do you, Moses, go and talk
with the Lord. You can converse with him, and let us know what the
Lord says, but do not let the Lord come and converse with us, lest we
be destroyed.” We find that they had so corrupted themselves in the
sight of God that he, who would have delighted to converse with all
the people, as one man talks with another, was obliged to hide his
presence from them, and to send Moses to teach them. Moreover their
corruptions had become so great that the Lord, in his wrath, swore
that they should not enter into his rest. This was made known to them
by new revelation while in the wilderness, or they never could have
learned it. The Lord also informed them that he would not go up in the midst
of their camps. Said he, “I will not go up in the midst
of this people, because they have corrupted themselves in my sight,
lest I break forth and consume them in a moment;” “but,” said he, “I
will send an angel before you, and you must hearken to his voice, but
my presence shall not go with you, you are too corrupt.” By and by we
find that an angel was left with them, and a cloud by day, and the
shining of a flaming fire by night, guided all their camps. The voice
and presence of the Lord were made manifest to Moses, and Moses
conversed with the Lord as one man talks with another, and during
forty years in the wilderness he from time to time received
revelations and communications to guide the people. Do you not see
that under these circumstances, during the whole of that forty years,
there was not one year—probably not one month, and it may be, not one
day but what new revelation was necessary? The code of laws given on
Mount Sinai was not sufficient without new revelation.

We might trace the history of the people of God, if we had time, but I
see we have not, from the days of Moses to the days of Joshua, Gideon,
Samuel, Barak and various other ancient worthies, all of whom received
revelation. If we come to the days of Gideon we find that he was a
man who had seventy sons, and how many daughters, I do not know. The
Lord conversed with Gideon and sent an angel to him to tell him that
he would raise him up as a mighty man of valor, to go forth in his
might and in his strength to deliver his people Israel from bondage.
We might relate all these things to show forth that the bondage of
the children of Israel called forth new revelation from heaven, and
that because of it the Lord spoke to and commanded his servants what
to do for the deliverance of that people; and if he called upon a man
who had so many wives and children, he did not consider that that man
was a criminal and unworthy of receiving communication from him, but
on the contrary, it is clear that the Lord considered him the most
worthy man in all Israel, and on that account he sent his angel to
him. And this noted polygamist, of all the thousands of Israel was
entrusted with the mission of delivering that people from their
enemies. God wrought special miracles by his hand in order to
accomplish this great work, though he was a polygamist.

But we will pass on, and come down for some two thousand years to the
days of our Savior. One would naturally suppose that when the Son of
God himself came from his father's glory to dwell here on the earth in
the flesh, and began to teach by the power of the Holy Ghost, the
things of his Father, that during the three and a half years of his
ministry among the people, they, of course, could say, “Now we do not
need any more revelation, we have enough; the Son of God, of whom our
law, its ordinances and sacrifices were typical, has at last come and
has offered himself on the cross, and having finished the work given
him to do, is there any more need for new revelation?” The conduct of
the Apostles is the best answer that can be given to this, for we find
them, like all their predecessors, from the days of Adam until their
day, seeking from time to time for guidance by new revelation. We read
of Philip going to the city of Samaria, preaching there awhile and
baptizing men and women; but not having the authority to administer in
the higher ordinance of the laying on of hands, the Christians at Jeru-salem, hearing that Samaria had received the Word of God,
sent Peter and John to administer the ordinance of the laying on of
hands for the higher baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. When Peter
and John reached Samaria they found there was great joy among the
people, for many of them had been converted; but their joy was not
because of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, for the next verse says,
“For as yet he was fallen on none of them,” only they had been
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, but neither man nor woman had
received the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. But the Apostles laid
their hands on them and the Holy Ghost fell on them.

Now, here was Philip in the city of Samaria. He had preached the
Gospel there, where should he go next? He had probably fulfilled all
the duties required of him there. He was not hired to preach in that
city for so much a year, and to stay there to the end of his days. No,
he needed a new revelation. All the revelations that Jesus had given
were not sufficient to guide Philip in regard to his next duty, the
Lord, therefore sent an angel to him to tell him to go down into the
south country. He never would have learned this fact by any former
revelation. While Philip was on his way to the south he saw a chariot
before him and here again a new revelation was given to him—“Draw
thyself near to that chariot.” He did so, and having taught the Gospel
to its occupant, as they rode along, they came to some water and, the
man having believed what Philip had said, wanted to be baptized. The
chariot stood still, and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the
water, and the eunuch was baptized, and they came forth out of the
water. Now then, how could Philip know but what it was his duty on
that occasion to still speak with the eunuch, get into the carriage
and ride along with him and give him further instructions? But no, the
Lord had something else for him to do, and the Spirit of the Lord
caught away Philip, and he found himself at Azotus. I do not know
whether or not this Spirit actually caught up Philip, body and spirit,
and wafted him quickly from the place where the eunuch was baptized to
the city of Azotus. I should not be surprised, however, if this was
the case, for we have something very similar in the Old Testament
Scriptures, and the promise is that they who wait on the Lord shall
mount as it were on eagle's wings, and they shall run and not be
weary, and walk and not faint. I do not know but this was the case
with Philip. At any rate, the Spirit of the Lord carries people, by
new revelation, whithersoever he will.

On another occasion we find that Barnabas and Saul, not having
inquired of the Lord concerning their duties, but they probably had
been reading the Old Scriptures, which were sufficient for instruction
for righteousness, and to make the man of God thoroughly perfect to
every good work. I say that probably Barnabas and Saul had been
reading these, and having failed to inquire of the Lord, and to get
new revelation, they started out with the design of going to a certain
city, but the Lord checked them. Said he, “Do not go there!” How
important it was to get new revelation! “Do not you go to that city, I
have another work for you to perform;” and they were then told where
to go. Talk to the Christian ministers today, or to any that have
lived for centuries past, and if they had made up their minds to go to
any place, they would never
think of the Lord checking them,
or forbidding them to go, by new revelation, for they all say that the
canon of Scripture is full, and that no more new revelation is needed.

Many other instances of a similar character might be named, but time
will not permit. We find, however, that, after all that God revealed
through Jesus, and to the Apostles, for ninety-six years in the first
century of the Christian era, they had not enough, and the Lord then
gave the book of John's prophecy on the Isle of Patmos. John was
commanded to write it on parchment, and in this book a great many new
revelations were promised to be given in the latter times. One of
these was that an angel should come from heaven having the everlasting
Gospel to preach to all people, nations, kindreds and tongues,
declaring that the hour of God's judgment had come. Here was a promise
or prediction that a new revelation should be given by an angel from
heaven, and so important should it be that it should be proclaimed to
every creature under heaven. A great many people say, “We have the
everlasting Gospel in this book—the Bible—called the canon of
Scripture, collected together by the monks, cardinals, bishops and
great men of the Roman Catholic Church, some four centuries after
Christ. They bound together in this volume all the books they had that
they did not condemn, and they declared that this was enough, and
there was no need of the Lord saying anything more. But these very
Scriptures themselves contradict their compilers—those wicked men who
sat in judgment on the word of God, setting aside this book and that
book, this manuscript and that manuscript, and binding the remainder
together. I say that they put some things into this very book, which
prove that God would again make known his will to the children of men
in latter times; that he would again give new revelation, not for the
benefit of one or two individuals, but for the benefit of his
creatures universally.

Notwithstanding we have the Gospel written here in this book, yet that
Gospel, without the power and authority to administer its ordinances,
is a dead letter. We might believe the Gospel, we might believe that
Jesus is the Christ by reading this book, we could repent of our sins
by reading the proclamation of repentance here recorded; but we could
not be baptized for the remission of our sins, neither could we have
hands laid upon us for the baptism of the Holy Ghost by reading, and
that is part and portion of the Gospel of the Son of God, just as much
as the written word that proclaims these things to the children of
men. Take away the power and authority to administer that word, and
you at once leave the dead letter of the Gospel, and it would benefit
none of the children of men, so far as obeying it is concerned. They
might be benefited by repenting and believing, and so on, but they
could not embrace the Gospel, they could not get into the kingdom of
God, for “except a man is born of the water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God.” You could not be born of the water
unless there was a man authorized by new revelation to administer the
baptism of water, neither could you receive the baptism of the Holy
Ghost only by the ordinance God has instituted; hence the necessity of
the restoration of the authority to administer the ordinances of the
Gospel, and this is why God has restored it after the earth has been
without it for seventeen hundred years. No man among all
the nations, kindreds and tongues of the earth, during that time, has had
this authority, neither the authority to administer the Lord's supper,
which is a part of the Gospel, neither in any other ordinance.

God having foreseen this long period of darkness, foretold by the
mouth of the Revelator, St. John, that he would send an angel from
heaven with the everlasting Gospel, and when that angel came and
committed that Gospel to man on the earth, it should be proclaimed to
all people under heaven, the same as the Elders of this Church are now
doing it. The Book of Mormon, containing the everlasting Gospel as it
was published to the ancient inhabitants of America, has been brought
forth by the power of God, and his servants have been sent forth to
preach it, and, not only to preach it, but, having authority to
administer its ordinances; yet the world tell us we need no more
revelation, we have enough if we only follow the Scriptures, which
Paul said to Timothy were sufficient to save him. But in the Christian
world you cannot be saved by following the Scriptures, from the fact
that you cannot follow them without authority from God to administer
the ordinances. You be baptized by a man having no authority by new
revelation from heaven, and your baptism is illegal, and your
pretended adoption into the kingdom of God is not acknowledged in
heaven, for God has not authorized the administrator, and what he has
done in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, cannot be sealed
and recorded in heaven for your benefit. No wonder, then, that the
world has dwelt in darkness for so many centuries, for the earth has
become so corrupt, and the heavens have apparently become as brass
over the heads of the nations. No Pro-phet, no angel, no inspiration,
no Revelator, no man of God to say, “Thus saith the Lord God” unto the
people. No wonder, then, that the Lord, before the great day of the
coming of his beloved Son from the heavens, should send an angel to
prepare the way before his face! This he has done, and the
proclamation is going forth, saying to all people, nations and
tongues, “God has sent an angel, and he has sent him to prepare you
and us for the great day of the coming of the Son of Man, wherein
there will be more revelations given than have ever been given in all
former dispensations.”

Tell about the canon of Scripture being complete, what nonsense! What
absurdity! Where is there any proof of any such thing? God has yet to
give revelation enough to fill the earth with his knowledge as the
waters cover the great deep. He has yet to pour out his spirit upon
all flesh that dwells on the face of the earth, and make a revelator,
prophet, or prophetess of every man and woman living, and if all their
revelations are written, this book, the Bible, will be like a primer
compared with them. “In the last days,” saith God, by the mouth of the
Prophet Joel, “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, and upon my servants and my hand
maidens in those days will I pour out of my Spirit, and they shall
prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see
visions.” Supposing they write their dreams as Daniel wrote his, and
suppose they write their visions as Isaiah wrote his, and suppose they
write their prophecies as all the Prophets have written theirs, would
they not be just as sacred as this canon of Scripture? I say they
would. I would be bound just as much to
receive the
revelations of each man and woman among all flesh as I would those of
a person who lived two or three thousand years ago. A revelation given
to a living man in my day is just as sacred as one given to a man who
has been dead some three thousand years. God is a consistent being,
and he reveals himself according to his own mind and will, and in the
last dispensation, he will continue to reveal line upon line, precept
upon precept, here a little and there a little, bringing forth a
record here, unfolding the history of another people there, bringing
to light the bible of the ten tribes who have been absent from the
land of Canaan for almost three thousand years. Their bible has got to
be brought to light, and when they return they will bring their
written revelations, prophecies, visions and dreams with them, and we
shall have the bible of the ten tribes, as well as the bible of the
ancient Israelites who lived on this continent, and the bible of the
Jews on the eastern continent, and these bibles will be united in one,
and even then the people will not have enough revelation. No, every
man and every woman will have to be a revelator and prophet, and the
knowledge and glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover
the bosom of the great deep. And by and by, as a kind of climax to all
this, the revelation of the Lord Jesus himself will take place from
heaven in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the Gospel. That will be a revelation that the
wicked cannot abide, a revelation too great for them, and that will
pierce them to their inmost soul. That will be a revelation that will
consume them in their wickedness, as stubble is consumed before the
devouring flame, and he will reign here, king of kings and lord of
lords for a thousand years.

Do you suppose that he will give no new revelation during that time,
but that he will sit on his throne like the idols in some of the
heathen nations? Do you suppose that the Lord Jesus, that intelligent
being, by whom the Father made the worlds, is coming here to reign
king of kings, and to sit down on his throne in the temple at
Jerusalem, and upon his throne in his temple in Zion, and abide there
as a statue from generation to generation, for a thousand years, and
when the people come up to ask him a question that he will not say a
word, only to tell them they have enough? Do you suppose this will be
the case? Oh no, my friends, the Lord Jesus will converse the whole
thousand years with his people, and give them instruction. He will
reign over the house of David, over the children of Israel, over the
twelve tribes, over Zion and over all the inhabitants of the earth,
that is over all who are spared in that day, giving counsel here,
instructions yonder, revealing something there, and so on, and the
amount of revelation that will be given during the thousand years will
no doubt be ten thousand times more than is contained in this Bible,
and yet say the world, “No more revelation!”